Police Department
Monthly Report
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Police Department |
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James L. Cetran
Chief of Police
On October 1, 2008 the Department began accepting applications for the position of Probationary Police Officer. Applications will be accepted until Friday, December 5, 2008. The first portion of the process will be the written examination which is scheduled for Saturday, December 13, 2008. The Department currently has two police officer vacancies with a distinct possibility for a third.
On October 2, 2008 Officers Anthony DeMonte, Michael Wren, and Ronald Floyd were presented with the Connecticut Chiefs of Police Medal of Valor. It was on November 6, 2007 that these officers were confronted by an armed individual who had just committed a murder in Hartford. This individual then shot at the Wethersfield officers. This was the first Medal of Valor award issued by the Connecticut Chiefs of Police.
On October 20, 2008 the hiring process for the vacant Records Clerk III position was completed with the hiring of a new clerk. This process included a written examination and two interviews by Town and Department personnel.
On Wednesday, October 29, 2008 Sergeant Donald Crabtree attended the five day International Special Olympics Law Enforcement Torch Run conference in Dallas, Texas completely paid for by Special Olympics. Sergeant Crabtree was selected by Special Olympics Connecticut due to his fundraising and awareness efforts over the course of the past ten years. Approximately 1,000 people from throughout the world attended.
On October 24, 2008 a patrol officer was dispatched to a Wethersfield residence on a harassing phone call complaint. The officer found out that the complainant, a DCF case worker, had received a harassing phone call from one of her juvenile clients. The client was upset with the DCF worker and threatened to harm her. The complainant told the officer that she believed the juvenile did not know her home phone number or her address. Upon responding to the juvenile's home, the officer found that the juvenile had left his house and the foster parent did not know the current location of the juvenile. The officer, upon returning to the complainant's home, saw a juvenile near the complainant's home that matched the description of the juvenile in question. When the officer approached the juvenile, the juvenile ran from the officer. The officer was able to catch up to the juvenile. The officer found that the juvenile was carrying a weapon and intended to cause harm to the DCF worker. The juvenile was arrested and turned over to State of Connecticut.
In October, 2008 members of the Detective Bureau initiated or were assigned follow-up to thirty new cases. Major case investigations include six burglaries, six larcenies, one identity theft, one robbery and one sexual assault. Detectives also continue to perform town background investigations and backgrounds for pistol permits applicants.
On Sunday, October 26, 2008 officers investigated a robbery of commercial business located on the Silas Deane Highway. A suspect entered the business with a handgun and demanded money. The suspect was described as a light skinned Hispanic male wearing jeans, light colored zippered sweatshirt with a hat and sunglasses. After obtaining the money, the suspect was last seen running toward the rear of the building.
Detectives continue to investigate several residential burglaries that occurred in September, 2008. These burglaries were committed on residences that were currently for sale and vacant at the time of the incident. In these burglaries copper pipe was stolen from the basement. At this time suspects are being developed.
In October, 2008 the Wethersfield Police Department Juvenile Unit handled seventeen incidents involving twenty-seven juveniles. In these incidents, four juveniles were arrested for criminal violations, seven were diverted to school punishment and nineteen were diverted to parental punishment.
The Police Adventures Crossroads program, co-sponsored by the Wethersfield Police Department and Town Social and Youth Services began on October 20, 2008 at the Silas Deane Middle School. The two meetings that took place in October involved team building exercises. The program will continue into November, 2008 featuring practical police training exercises.
On Thursday, October 30, 2008 the Juvenile Unit to include the SRO conducted an Internet safety program at the Wethersfield Community Center.
During the month of October, 2008 the Wethersfield High School Resource Officer (SRO) reported thirty-five incidents entered into the School Cop Database. Of these thirty-five incidents, seventeen resulted in incident reports with twelve arrests and one arrest warrant application. These twelve arrests include incidents for larceny, assault, disorderly conduct, creating a public disturbance, breach of peace, reckless burning, vandalism and two cases of weapons on school grounds. The SRO reported numerous mediations regarding bullying and dating situations. The SRO continues to investigate loitering issues on nearby streets to include Harold Street and Wintergreen Lane.
In October, 2008 Wethersfield dispatchers received and handled 816 E-911 emergency phone calls.
In October, 2008 Wethersfield dispatchers dispatched the Wethersfield Volunteer Ambulance to thirty-five medical emergencies and Aetna Ambulance to 229 medical emergencies for a total of 264 medical emergencies.
In October, 2008 there were thirty-seven calls involving animal control issues. Of those calls, twelve were handled by an animal control officer and twenty-five were handled by police officers.
In October, 2008 eighteen persons were taken into custody and held requiring 195 hours of incarceration. Of the persons held, eleven were arrested by warrant. Support Services personnel transported eighteen prisoners to court. Transported to court were sixteen males and two females.
On October 3, 6 & 8, 2008 sworn personnel received annual training on "Arrest & Control, Handcuffing, ASP, Taser, Oleoresin Capsicum (OC), Use of Force and Pursuit Policy". Each officer received an eight hour block of instruction. Officers received instruction on unarmed arrest and control techniques, ASP expandable baton techniques/ blocks and annual pursuit policy training. Officers received also received training on the use of the "Stop Sticks" tire deflation device and Oleoresin Capsicum (OC). Officers were recertified in the use of the Taser X26, which is required annually. Officers were given written tests on Use of Force, ASP, department motor vehicle pursuit policy, Handcuffing, OC and Taser. Officers were put through two different scenarios in order to show their proficiency in the training they received. Training was conducted by certified department instructors. This training is a continuation from the last week of September, 2008.
On Tuesday, October 14, 2008 a Department dispatcher attended a one day "Regional Incident Dispatch (RID) Team Training Exercise." This exercise was conducted in Cheshire, CT. This exercise tested inter-regional communications in the event of a natural crisis throughout parts of Connecticut and southern Massachusetts.
On Thursday, October 16, 2008 a newly promoted sergeant attended a two hour training class entitled "Sexual Harassment Training." This training was held in Wallingford, CT. This training class was designed for supervisors and was sponsored by Worker's Compensation Trust.
On Monday, October 20, 2008 three officers attended the five day "Capitol Region Police Officer Recertification Training." This training was held in Farmington, CT. This forty hour class is mandatory every three years to keep officers certified in the State of Connecticut. The training encompasses a wide variety of topics including ICS training, PRAWN training, legal updates, bias crimes, patrol procedures, juvenile law and domestic violence laws.
On Monday, October 27, 2008 an officer began attending a two day training class entitled "Introduction to Nighttime Crash Investigation." This training was held at the East Hartford Police Department, East Hartford, CT. Objectives of this course included conspicuity, environmental lighting, roadway visibility, perception reaction time, nighttime photography and headlamp mapping. This officer is one of this Department's Crash Investigators.
On Tuesday, October 28, 2008 a Department dispatcher began attending a three day class entitled "FEMA Type III Communications Leader." This training was held at the DEMHS Training Facility in Hartford, CT. Objectives of this course included training emergency responders on how to serve as radio communications unit leaders during all-hazards emergency operations.
Support Service Bureau officers continue to address citizen complaints involving traffic, parking violations and other motor vehicle violations. Citizens regularly complain about a variety of different violations on various city streets and several public schools. To address these complaints, officers performed selective enforcement at numerous locations throughout town. Officers performed selective enforcement twenty-two times and spent a total of 11.75 hours doing selective enforcement on various city streets.
The Support Services Bureau Commander continues to receive requests for added or replacement road signs. Several work orders were completed in October, 2008 to include installing temporary traffic signs in support of the Cove Park Craft Fair that was held on Saturday, October 4, 2008 and the 10th Annual Mikey's Place 5K Road Race that was held on Sunday, October 19, 2008.
The project of street light repair requests is set to go on line starting in November, 2008. The midnight shift supervisor was contacted and will have the assigned district officer note as many streetlight outages as possible during the month. The Administrative Services Bureau will then notify CL&P with the repair requests.
We have a new Accreditation Manager. The CALEA conference/ training is scheduled for December, 2008 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The new Accreditation Manager has been booked to attend the necessary classes to prepare for his new responsibilities. We are scheduled for a CALEA reaccreditation on-site review in May 2009.
Watchguard In-Car Camera System training for department personnel is scheduled for Friday, November 7, 2008.
Fall Firearms training for all Department personnel is scheduled for the week of November 17, 2008.
Basic Patrol Rifle training for Department personnel is scheduled for Tuesday & Wednesday, November 18th & 19th, 2008.
The Wethersfield Police Department, Training Unit, will be hosting a one week course entitled Crisis Intervention Team Training beginning on November 10, 2008. This course will be held in the Community Room.
The Wethersfield Police Department, Training Unit, will be hosting a one day course entitled Powerphone's Active Shooting Response - The Dispatcher's Role on Tuesday, December 2, 2008.
In October, 2008 police and fire personnel responded to eighty-one alarms to include sixty-four burglar alarms, eight fire alarms, five hold-up alarms and four panic alarms. Locations included twenty-seven non-residential locations, forty-eight residential alarms and six state/ town-owned locations.
Seventeen new or alarm renewal registrations were received from residents / businesses in the month.
A total of 1,167 alarm permits are currently on file with the Police Department. During the month, there was a 93% compliance rate. False alarm fines totaled $ 3075.00 for the month of October, 2008 with a high delinquency rate by non-residential clients. During this month, $5,700 was collected due to billing with $6975.00 still outstanding.
The following are the burglary and robbery statistics for the month of October, 2008 along with comparative statistics for the same period last year. The figures in the parenthesis represent the number of cases cleared by arrest or in which the perpetrators have been identified.
| Criminal Activity | October 2007 | October 2008 |
|---|---|---|
| Residential Burglaries | 2 (0) | 6 (0) |
| Commercial Burglaries | 0 (0) | 0 (0) |
| Armed Robberies | 0 (0) | 1 (0) |
| Strong-arm Robberies | 0 (0) | 0 (0) |
